It might be helpful if you talked a little about the specificproblems you are having setting abalone shell in silver. I've beensetting it in silver for 25 years and haven't had much in the way ofmajor problems. Thin pieces can be tricky so I sometimes back themwith some material (plastic, wood, metal, whatever) to give themsupport and strength. Mostly I only set pieces that are thicker andstrong. I live near the ocean in Northern California, USA and haveover the years found the beaches along the coast where the bestpieces are washed up after being tumbled, sanded and smoothed by theocean and sand. I like to find pieces that are ready to use as Iprefer not to grind the stuff very much although I have done a gooddeal of this in the past. I would recommend that if you do grind ityou do it under water and wear a respirator because the dust isfairly dangerous. I know several people who have gotten sick by notknowing this. Someone on Orchid mentioned that abalone is brittle.I've not had much of a problem with it breaking as it is fairlytough stuff unless very thin. I set it in fine silver bezel, smalland large pieces. I polish it with bobbing compound and green rougeand sometimes on my diamond stone polishing wheels. I sometimes cutshapes out of it with a jeweler's saw at a table outside whilewearing a respirator. Does abalone grow in the ocean around the UK?In southern California some species are endangered by being overcollected and by pollution, northern California stocks are stillfairly healthy although you don't find the huge ones that were here50 and more years ago.

If you tell me the problems you're having, I'll try to be ofassistance.

I don't know how much of this you plan to do, but if you're planningto do any cutting, filing or sanding of the stuff you must takeprecautions to protect your lungs. In the 70's a craftsman from mycircle died making a table top of abalone inlay without wearing amask or keeping the dust under control. The stuff just lacerated hislungs. It was a lot of abalone, so no need to freak out if you justshaped a piece or two without a mask. That said...I would recommendfine silver if you want bezel settings. Or, you could make prongs ofsilver wire with beaded tips...then when you bend the prongs overthe bead will hold the piece in place with a minimum of contact.

I had great fun playing around with this last year. Sketch the shapeof the shell you want onto a piece of rice paper (being a snob,normal printer paper will work) and then PVA glue this to a piece ofsilver which a fraction thinner than the shell you intend to inlay.Let it dry and then cut the shape out of the silver sheet and tidy upthe window you have made.

Next glue a piece of paper to the surface of the shell, let it dry,place your silver on top of this and trace the shape of the windowonto the shell with a pencil or pen. Cut out your piece of shell abit large, which can be done using a standard jewellers saw. Thenwork the shell and the hole until they fit together. You will need tohold the shell and the silver up the light a lot to get it justright.

Once the two parts are nicely matched, ease the corners on what willbe the bottom of the shell and put it away somewhere carefully. Takea piece of clean silver sheet slightly larger than the sheet with thehole cut out, lie them on top of one another and solder themtogether. Cut this down to size and tidy it up, also do any othersoldering operations I was making pendants, so attached the jump ringat this point. Polish the back and edges of the silver unit andcarefully check the fit of your shell without getting it firmlywedged in place. Next whip up some epoxy, glue the shell in place andput it somewhere safe to cure. It does not matter at this point ifthe glue job is untidy and you can leave the paper mask on the shell.When it is set, grind the surface flat on coarse sand paper andgently work your way to a very fine grit. Then follow your standardpolishing steps to rouge, but do not use a wheel, as that will wearaway the shell faster than the silver. I use old rags braced on a bitof wood and a lot of elbow grease, but I suppose a lapping machinewould work just as well.

Good luck, the results are very satisfying. Also have a go playingwith black lip as well as abalone the colours are fantastic.